It took me by surprise
by Naoki Ichigo
Summary: One Shot 1: Gyokuen/Hakutoku: During their years of marriage he had seen so many sides of her, but when he meet her eyes back then he was surprised to see such a strong und deep hate in them. One Shot 2: Judar&Hakuryuu: Judar knew Hakuryuu since they were little. Never had he thought that this happy little sunshine was able to feel such a negative emotion to such an extent.
1. Her hatred took him by surprise

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It took Hakutoku by surprise when he first met the hateful glare of his wife Gyokuen.

It wasn't the first time that his wife hated something or someone, but normally she still looked so calm and kind. She still had her soft features and her eyes did not only reflect hate. Gyokuen was, in general, a very clam, collected and level-headed person. She was kind and understanding, merciful and gentle. She was a perfect empress, a perfect wife and a perfect mother! Only a short while ago his wife had given birth to their second child. A healthy little boy named Hakuren. Hakutoku was sure that his first son, Hakuyuu, and his second son would turn into two great men that one day would lead the great Kou Empire into a bright future. A future he would build with them and a future they would maintain. But this were things that were not relevant at the time being, since both boys were still children. Way too young, innocent and unknowing.

Normally, in the rare occasion his wife expressed hate for someone or something her features were still soft. There was still a warmth inside her eyes, there was still the understanding and mercifulness, there still was her kindness. Hate never was the only emotion reflection in her eyes and posture. Most of the time her hate was not even real hate it was more like disappointment, disagreement and anger. So when he first saw nothing but sheer hate in her eyes and posture, he was surprised, shocked and confused. At first he thought it was his fault. Lately, he had not spend much time with her. He either was in meetings with the rulers of Go and Gai or had to attend meetings in regards to his own country. How to develop it further? What had to be done to ensure the safety of his people in their daily lives? How to spend the money they got from the taxes? Basically, how to rule the country.

But soon he realized that his absents were not the reason, because even when he spend time with her, she sometime had those hateful eyes. When he met with ambassadors of other countries with her at his side he sometimes felt a shiver ran down his back. At such a time he would take a hidden look at his wife. Sometimes she would look at him from the corner of her eyes, just like he did. Sometimes she had a creepy smile on her face, which she either hide behind the sleeves of her clothes or showed openly disguising it as a friendly, warm smile for the ambassador. Her glance would burn itself into his flesh and mind. Her smile made him feel uncomfortable and reminded him of the demons of the tales he was told when he was still a small child. At moments like this he felt like the person next to him, the person in front of him, the person that was supposed to be his wife was not his beloved wife Ren Gyokuen. She was someone else imitate her appearance. He had no prove and the thought itself seemed so ridiculous that he did not believed it himself. It was just a sudden feeling when he looked at her the very second her glace fell upon him. It felt like acid burning into his skin, something he could not fight off.

The second he realized that his ridiculous assumption, his ridiculous feeling was not ridiculous at all, but the bitter truth, was also the moment he, for the very first time in his life, was so afraid of another person that he was not even able to move anymore. It was the moment his was murdered.

It took him by surprise when he entered his and his wife's bedroom one night, expecting her to wait for him, expecting to spend a relaxing night with her, but what he got was his wife glaring at him with that hateful eyes and that misguiding smile which looked so sweet, but was a way to express the disgusted she felt and expressed how much she looked down on Hakutoku.

Sweet words, so sweet it one could vomit, because it was too much, a mild lascivious pose, under normal circumstances he would probably have felt aroused, and a pleasant scent, which smelled like the perfume she always used.

At any other day, at any other point in time he would have interpreted things differently and sweet words, a mild lascivious pose and the pleasant scent were a clear indication of what pleasurable action laid ahead.

But at this point in time he was sure that his time had come.

Hakutoku had fought enough battles to know when death was near. Hakutoku had fought enough fights to know when it was better to run. Hakutoku had fought enough battles to know when he had lost.

He wondered when he started to take the wrong path. He wondered when he lost sight of his wife. Was it when the conflict between Go, Gai and Kou turned into war? Was it when his two oldest sons were called onto the battlefield? Or when one of his younger children were born?

Or was it when he let his wife interact with those suspicious priests? He had realized that those priest were up to no good. He saw that his wife was interacting with them at it even seemed like she was getting along with them well. He felt like those priest were dragging her into something. He wanted to get rid of them. But he obviously failed to do so.

Never, never in his whole life had he thought that his wife would be the head of those evil cult.

Never had he thought that his wife would wish death upon him and destruction upon the world.

If he could turn back in time, he would never let those priest into his country, he would pay more attention to his wife, he would spend more time with his children, especially with the two younger ones Hakuei and Hakuryuu – he barely interacted him them, especially with Hakuryuu, who he mostly knew only from seeing –, he wouldn't let it come down to this.

But he had made his choices and now he had to pay the price.

Her smile would turn into a pleased, amused and happy one as soon as Hakutoku was dead on the ground laying in his own blood. She would enjoy the moment and laugh about that stupid human in front of her, who thought he could oppose her and her cult. And after that she would act as the grief-stricken widow of the great emperor Ren Hakutoku, who was murdered by an assassin of another country.


	2. His hatred took him by surprise

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The first time Judar met the youngest child of the great emperor Ren Hakutoku, he himself had been nothing more than a mere child. Although, him being a child or maybe precisely because he was a child, he was attracted to the small boy with the big, soft blue eyes. Unfortunately, Judar was not able to spend much time with Hakuryuu. As soon as the priests of Al-Thamen were of the opinion that he was old enough to start his training as Magi and became a powerful magician he either had to spend his days with them and the training program they had created for him or he was away in foreigner countries. When he was in Kou, he often tried to sneak away from the priests and spend time with Hakuryuu.

Hakuryuu was always so happy, but he also started to cry very easily. At the beginning Hakuryuu had been very shy – not that this changed much over the time – but the shyness would disappeared as soon as the two children were into their games – and reappeared as soon as someone or something interrupted or their games ended.  
No one dared to interrupt them besides the crown prince Hakuyuu and his younger brother Hakuren. Both were Hakuryuu's older brothers who were loved unconditionally by him.  
Sometimes Judar wished he had a sibling like one of Hakuryuu's as well. But he was alone. On the other hand he did not have to share anything with anyone or take care of someone else. Although, he had no problem with sharing his peaches with Hakuryuu.  
Hakuryuu was special!

When Judar was eight, Hakuryuu was six and had lost his father. An assassin, they say, an assassin of one of the other countries had murdered the great emperor Ren Hakutoku. Judar did not believe it. A mere assassin could impossibly be able to hurt and even less kill the former emperor. He had no proof, but his feelings told him that someone else was the culprit.  
Maybe he had cares more about the whole incident, if he had known what the future had in store for him and the rest of the world.  
Only a few days after the funeral of Hakutoku and the decision to crown prince Hakuyuu as the new emperor – a decision that had been obvious from the beginning and was the best anyway – another tragic occurred. A tragic that would change everything.

The young Magi had been away in another land again and was called back for the coronation of Hakuyuu that should be held in a few days. Because of the upcoming event the whole palace was in uproar. The noise was annoying to Judar. Later Judar would wish that the noise would came back and take the silence away. Unfortunately, this wished should not be granted.  
Instead of preparing Judar for whatever duty he may have to fulfill as an oracle, the member of Al-Thamen taught him more magic. Maybe there was nothing for him to do anyway besides being present. He did not mind at all. What he did mind was the fact that he was pretty exhausted at the end of his training sessions.  
When the fire incident happen Judar was asleep and was woken up by the sound of the soldiers and servants running through the palace towards the fire which they tried to extinguish and trying to rescue whoever was still trapped inside.  
In the end their efforts were useless. The people they were committed to protect died. Prince Hakuyuu and prince Hakuren died inside the flames. Only the youngest prince, Hakuryuu, was able to get out alive. But he barely survived. Half of his small body was burned and he fought death for about two months. In those two months the dead princes were buried and a new emperor was crowned. Judar did not care much about that. He liked Hakuyuu and Hakuren and their deaths made him very sad, but in the end he still did not care much. There were other things that were more interesting. There were things or better said there was someone who he cared more about. Further, he did not really had much time to grieve for the dead, since he as the oracle had so serve the new emperor. Judar did not like the old and demanding man. He liked Hakutoku and his sons more. They were stronger and more suited for the position, but Judar could not change anything.

The news of Hakuryuu's awaking made Judar happy. As soon as it was possible for him to visit the prince he did so. Half of Hakuryuu's face and probably half of his body were covered by bandages. The light in his blue eyes were gone. When Judar talked to him, he did not respond in any form. Maybe he was still too tired, maybe the fact that his beloved brothers were gone and that his uncle took the throne was a shock for the boy. Judar still talked to him as if nothing had happened at all. Other people would pamper the prince enough and that was probably something the boy did not need – at least that was what Judar thought at first, but reality was different. What he need, according to Judar, was someone that treated him like always.  
Judar left when one of the priests of Al-Thamen called him, because the new emperor wanted to see him. He said goodbye to the young prince, when he did so, he saw something inside of Hakuryuu's eyes that he had never seen before. Hate.

Over the years a few things changed. For example, Kou gained more power thanks to Judar and the dungeons he had raised. More and more countries were conquered. Hakuryuu had been adopted by Koutoku, the younger brother of the former emperor Hakutoku and therefore Hakuryuu's uncle. Moreover, Hakuryuu was now the fourth instead of the third prince and he had put down his bandages. A big scar covered the left side of this face. The color of his left eye changes into a lighter shade of blue and both eyes had become cold.

What did not change was the new fact that Hakuryuu no longer was a happy little boy with bright blue eyes. He isolated himself and was isolated by the people around him. No one cared about him anymore, because there was nothing they could gain from him anymore. He had become useless to the servants. His own family also did not care. Even Hakuei had more important things than her little brother, who was so gravely injured – not only at the outside but also in the inside – but no one cared, no one saw it – wanted to see it. People were either pampering the prince with their fake smiles and condolence – a lied, they were just playing in front of him, they did not mean it at all – or ignoring him.  
Hakuryuu, on the other hand, isolated himself from other. The pain that was inflicted on him was big enough. He did not need more of it. He could not trust anyone anymore. Everyone was a potential enemy of his. He was alone.  
Judar was the only one that acted normal around Hakuryuu, no matter how distanced he was, no matter how many times he sent him away. Judar came back every time.

The only change Judar could not overlook, the only change Judar really was aware of was the hatred in Hakuryuu's eyes.  
Yes, he knew that Hakutoku and his two oldest sons were dead.  
Yes, he knew that they were murdered.  
Yes, he knew that Koutoku was the emperor now.  
Yes, he knew that Al-Thames influence increased.  
Yes, he knew that the Kou Empire expended itself very quickly, especially because of the djinns.  
But those were thing he did not pay much attention to, things he did not care about – even though he loved war and chaos –, things felt more like business than anything else. It was part of the job and therefore nothing to think about.  
The pure hatred in Hakuryuu's eyes, on the other, surprised Judar so much that at first he felt something similar to fear. The atmosphere around Hakuryuu seemed to have cooled down and all other emotions besides his hatred were gone – they were not suppressed, they did not exist anymore at that very moment.

Over the years, Judar would still be always surprised by the pure hatred the young prince could show. It did not happened often and mostly at times when Hakuryuu thought he was alone. But when Judar caught a glimpse at him at such a time, he always was surprised and impressed. If looks could kill, Hakuryuu would have killed the whole empire with those eyes.

Judar had never thought that Hakuryuu's hatred could become more or stronger, but it did. And when it did, he, again, was surprised by it. Surprised and impressed. Hakuryuu was a person whose feelings were always so pure and his hatred was no expatiation of this. Judar loved it.

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